A man who went to police to say he had killed his family was charged with murdering his four young children and attacking his wife Friday.

Said Biyad, 42, who had been living in Oregon until recently,
had an argument with his estranged wife over the children, police
said. Biyad struck the woman, 29-year-old Fatuma Amir, with a blunt
instrument before turning on the children, three girls and a boy,
said Lt. Col. Phil Turner, an assistant chief of police.

"We believe she was assaulted first and then the children
killed," Turner said.

Biyad was charged with four counts of murder and one count of
criminal assault, Turner said. Biyad went to police headquarters
around 9 a.m. EDT Friday and told police, "I've just killed my
family," Turner said.

The three girls were ages 8, 7 and 4, and the boy was about to
turn 3, Turner said. They likely would be identified on Saturday
after autopsies are performed, he said. He said police do not yet
know how the children were killed.

Amir, who emigrated from Somalia with Biyad and the children,
suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was speaking with
investigators by the afternoon, Turner said.

Hassan Muya, a friend of the family, said the family had emigrated from Somalia to Oregon, but Amir moved to Louisville when they began to have problems.

"They were having a family problem there," Muya said. He said
Biyad had come to Louisville in recent weeks, perhaps to reconcile.

Amir's brother, Osman Noor, was visibly shaken near the crime
scene Friday but said he remembered the children as being
"wonderful."

"Everybody is sad today," Noor said. "We've never seen ...
somebody do like this."

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)